Crown Jules
by LReads
Summary: Set to ascend to the throne, Princess Annalise is escorted by a knight across the kingdom, through magical forests filled with a host of strange creatures. The princess may not need a knight to protect her, but maybe she'll learn to enjoy her company ? (Nyotalia PruAus)


**Written for princesscaiters for the Pruaus Secret Santa exchange on tumblr  
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><p>When a letter arrives at the home of her tutor, telling Annalise that her father is to abdicate, she's surprised by the timing of it, but not by the act itself. She knew it would happen eventually, though she hadn't expected that it would be so soon. Barely into her twenties and she's to ascend to the throne. But it can't be helped. Her father has been ill for some time now and it's probably for the best that he step down and leave the kingdom in the hands of a more vigorous monarch.<p>

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't nervous. Logically she knows that there's no better fit to run a kingdom than her. She's been bred for this, after all. She's received the finest education in the politics, relations, and history of her to-be nation in order to equip her for this role. And most importantly she's an Edelstein. She has the blood of warriors, of commanders, of the greatest leaders these lands will ever know coursing through her veins. The lives of millions of people is no small burden, but she knows she's the only one fit to carry it.

The letter tells her that a knight by the name of Beilschmidt is to transport her home to the palace. Arthur Kirkland, whose tutelage she's been under for the past five years, tells her of Monika Beilschmidt, slayer of the great dragon of Zelling. Annalise doesn't feel that she needs an escort, but she supposes that if she absolutely must have one, a dragon slayer is the best person to be stuck with.

It takes Annalise a great number of hours to pack her things into a great many trunks. In fact it's the first thing the knight remarks upon.

"Do you really need all this stuff ?" The knight asks, standing in the doorway of Annalise's chambers, having been led up there by a maid.

"You must be Monika Beilschmidt," Annalise begins, extending her hand. "It's a pleasure."

The knight studies the hand a moment before grasping it. "Beilschmidt yeah, but I'm Julia. Monika's my kid sister."

"Oh pardon me, we shouldn't have assumed. The letter only used the name Beilschmidt and my tutor said tha-"

Annalise is cut off mid sentence. "Your tutor heard the surname and figured it was the dragon slayer, I get it."

Annalise feels her cheeks warming. She's to be Queen, she should be commanding respect, not getting flustered in front of strangers. "I must apologise, I shouldn't have presumed like I did. I hope you don't think I'd doubt your capabilities."

Don't sweat it Princess." Julia picks up a trunk of clothes, exhaling harshly when she feels the weight of it. "I'm proud of Mon, and hey, I'll have my chance to slay my own dragon, just you watch."

"Not during this journey, I should hope."

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><p>Once the carriage is packed with Annalise's belongings, they set off through Torlyn forest, and eerily quiet woodland rumoured to be the residence of an untold number of witches. Julia brazenly dismisses any concern voiced by Annalise's tutor, she's a knight, dealing with these situations is her job. That, and witches aren't so bad once you get to know them.<p>

"How long should this journey take ?" Annalise asks, partly out of curiosity, partly to fill the silence.

"Two or three days, I guess." It's an optimistic estimate, it could take twice that if they run into any trouble.

"I've heard the attempts to domesticate pegasuses are going well. Just think, in a few years this journey could be reduced to a matter of hours," Annalise says, and one of the horses pulling the carriage turns its head back to look at her, letting out a nicker.

"Don't let them think they'll be out of a job." Julia leans forward and scratches the horse closest to her behind the ears. The horse returns her affection and nuzzles against her hand. "If they feel threatened they might lead you somewhere a princess shouldn't go."

Julia isn't teasing, it's an honest warning. Those horses were bred in the arid plains of Myrferd, a harsh environment for them to be reared in, but it made them hardy and nurtured a sense of self preservation in them, making them perfectly suited to serving with a knight. Moody as they are, they can be depended upon, if you keep them on side.

Despite Julia's intentions, Annalise seems to take the comment the wrong way and the atmosphere grows heavy. The already silent forest seems somehow quieter and the clip clopping of the horse's hooves come timed with Annalise's angry racing heart. Hoping for an escape, she retires inside the carriage and eventually drifts off to sleep.

When she wakes, the carriage has stopped and the knight is climbing inside, soaked to the bone. She can hear the rain drumming on the roof of the carriage above her and she can tell by the volume that it's more than just a shower. "You're drenched."

Julia jumps, expecting Annalise to be long asleep by now. "I had to tie up the horses for the night."

Annalise searches through her trunks for a towel. In the first she finds her fencing equipment, in the second she finds books, and by the time she does find a towel she's sure Julia has already dried off. But Julia accepts the towel anyway and ruffles her hair with it. Her hair is white and cropped at the base of her neck. There's no length in it whatsoever. Julia mentions it was longer during her childhood, but it had to be cut when she became a knight. Long hair is simply incontinent for battle. Annalise pauses to consider what it must have looked like, if it could look any more remarkable than it does now. Women don't often have such short hair and hardly anyone has white hair.

Annalise finds she's staring and asks a question so she doesn't appear rude. "Why did you become a knight ?"

Julia shrugs. "My grandfather was one." A smile creeps across her face, giving her an air of mischievousness. "And besides, they're so fucking cool."

Annalise laughs, loud and decidedly unregal. Her knight isn't such bad company, she supposes. At least she's funny.

"Well we better get some sleep," Julia begins, pulling the towel down around her neck. "We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

* * *

><p>Morning comes and they share meat pies and sweet spongy bread packed by Annalise's maid the previous day. Julia wolfs the food down, having never had the luxury of trying anything like the desert before. Annalise finds her lack of table manners repugnant, but it's somehow endearing seeing her react to the new taste.<p>

After their bellies are filled, Julia readies the horses and sends Annalise off with a bucket to fetch them water. Julia promises that it shouldn't take her too long, they're still in Torlyn forest and a river runs right through it, she should find it just a few minutes off the beaten track. It sounds simple enough, but the problem is that's she's not all that good with directions. The reason a knight was sent to escort her home, Annalise wagers, had less to do with protection and all the more to do with making sure she didn't get herself lost. Fat lot of good that done her, she's been wandering for close to fifteen minutes and she can't so much as hear running water.

But she does hear _something_, a sort of crackling sound. Without any other options to consider, she decides to follow it. It doesn't take her long to reach her destination, which isn't the relief it should be, considering what she finds. She comes to a clearing where she immediately discovers that the crackling noise she heard came from a fire, and right on top of it rests a cauldron, with a witch beside it, stirring.

She thinks to run, but realises quickly that she'd be heard. So she backs away slowly, holding her breath lest that be heard either. But it's all for nought when she takes a step backwards and steps on a twig. The witches head goes up and Annalise can practically feel a hangman's noose tighten around her neck.

"Come out, will you ?" The witches voice sounds far too casual for Annalise's liking, she makes it sound like her inevitable regicide is something mundane. "There'll be no trouble if you just show yourself."

Annalise can't bank on that and stays still.

But if she won't go to the witch, the witch will go to her. The witch claps her hands and all of a sudden there's a cloud of green smoke. She disappears in an instant and reappears right behind Annalise, where she lays her hands on the her shoulders. "That wasn't so hard was it ?"

Annalise leaps and drops her bucket, but the witch doesn't seem to notice her fear. "Oh I know you, you're one of the royals, aren't you ?" The witch gives a slight bow. "So nice to meet you."

Annalise feels like it's a trick, it must be a trick. No witch she's ever heard of behaved like this. She doesn't look like what she'd expected of a witch either, there's no hooked nose with a wart, no haggard skin. She actually looks rather young. In fact her long wavy brown hair and sparkling green eyes make her look beautiful. "You don't look like a witch."

"Propaganda," The witch practically spits. "Those caricatures you see are just attempts to dehumanize the enemy."

Annalise thinks that she's not quite human, but knows well enough to keep that thought to herself.

"That's where you come in," The witch continues. "You have influence and I have issues, we could align. Put in a good word with your father for me, ask him to put an end to this hatred, ask him to ease up the restrictions on witches entering villages after dark."

Annalise isn't sure if it's that simple, there are reasons why witches can't enter villages at night, namely old wives tales of children being taken in the night and stories of hexes being placed on people, but she'll say whatever she must to leave unharmed. "I can't make you any promises, but I'll see what I can do for you Miss..."

"Elizabeta."

"I'll pass on that request for you, Elizabeta." A half truth. Even if it's to be acted on at all, it's not her father that will be making the decision, it'll be her throne soon. She supposes she'll bring it up with her advisors at least and see what they say.

Another clap and another cloud of green smoke. The witch appears at her cauldron, pours something blue and steaming into a flask, claps and disappears again. She appears by Annalise's side once more, the flask in her hands. "A little token of my appreciation. Drink it if you're ever in danger."

Royalty are often lavished with gifts, but Annalise has never received anything like this before. She's not sure how she should thank Elizabeta for it. She's not sure if it's actually safe to drink. "Um, thank you. You really shouldn't have gone to so much trouble."

Elizabeta waves off Annalise's concerns. "I insist, I was making a batch anyway."

"Well thank you, again." Annalise moves to leave but realises that she's not so sure where she's going. "Would you happen to know where the river is ?"

Elizabeta gives her the directions and when she reaches the riverbank, the first thing Annalise does is splash her face with water. Everything that just happened doesn't feel real, but the flask she's carrying proves otherwise. Perhaps Julia was on to something when she said that witches weren't all that bad, she neglected to mention that they still were fairly chilling though. Annalise gathers herself eventually, fills the bucket, and finds her way back to Julia.

"What took you so long ? Are you alright ?" Julia asks, climbing down from the carriage.

"I think I just made my first political promise."

Annalise regales Julia with the tale, getting a few laughs here and there. Usually Julia would apologize for neglecting her duty, for allowing Annalise to get into trouble, but she's proved herself capable of handling herself. She even got a gift. "You know Annalise, you're pretty damn badass for a princess. Bargaining with a witch _and _getting something out of it. You're full of surprises."

Annalise notices that this is the first time Julia's actually called her by her first name, she'll have to return the favour. "Don't compliment me just yet, _Jules_." Annalise turns the flask over in her hand. "We don't know if this is safe to drink, or even what it does. I was told to drink it if I'm ever in danger, but it could be a trick."

"I guess we should just keep it an figure it out later," Julia pauses. "And Jules, I like that. You're the princess but I'm the crown Jules."

Annalise tries not to laugh, but it's just so painfully cheesy. Trying to hide her amusement, she turns her attention away from Julia and towards the horses. She gives each of the horses a drink from the bucket and the last horse licks her hand. She finds the sensation disgusting but she supposes she should be grateful that they're growing accustomed to her company.

Considering the morning Annalise had, the rest of the day is relatively uneventful. They breeze through the rest of Toryln forest in no time at all and soon enough they come to the village of Goldwyn. Annalise doesn't step a foot outside the carriage as they pass through it. She'd like to get home as soon as possible and showing her face would only call attention to themselves, slowing them down. Instead she sits inside and catches up on some reading while Julia leads the way.

Without Annalise realising it, they pass through Goldwyn and enter Zelling forest. She only notices because Julia's decided to park the carriage for the night. The weather is terrible this time of year, no matter where you are in the kingdom, and Julia climbs in dripping wet from the rain for the second night in a row.

Again she fetches Julia a towel and she dries herself off. Expect it's colder than it was last night and Julia can't seem to get warm.

"Come here," Annalise says, pulling Julia under a blanket with her. "We can't have you catching your death."

Annalise's head rests in Julia shoulder, but Julia still shakes in her arms. Back pressed against Annalise's stomach, cocooned in her warmth, Julia shivers and Annalise doesn't think she'll ever get to sleep with the noise of chattering teeth. But given time they do drift to sleep, huddled together, listening to the rain crash around them.

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><p>When Annalise wakes again it's not yet morning and her arms ache for lack of an embrace. Julia is gone but it doesn't worry her at all until she hears battle cries and the clanking sounds of metal coming from outside.<p>

She sticks her head outside the carriage and sees Julia going toe to toe with a dragon. Then it hits her, _Zelling. _Zelling, the dragon infested forest a half days journey south of the palace. Julia, in her full suit of armour, is on horseback, slashing at the dragon's neck with her arming sword each time it bows its head.

Annalise dashes back inside, digs through her trunk of fencing equipment and grabs her foil. When she climbs back out again, the bushes and branches of the trees are on fire. There's soot on Julia's face.

"Can you reason with it ?" Julia shouts over the roars of the dragon. "You know, like you did with the witch."

Annalise is taken aback, unsure how to respond. Wanting for time, Julia rushes her. "Well, can you ?"

"Oh I'm so sorry," Annalise shouts from the carriage, gesturing wildly with her foil. "It's just that the dragon doesn't really strike me as a monarchist."

Her point made, she focuses on the task at hand. Annalise makes a run towards the dragon, her foil raised and pointed at its leg. She's functioning solely on adrenaline, on the fear engulfing her, because there's no way she'd be this athletic in everyday life. She strikes the leg and it accomplishes nothing, the dragon doesn't even seem to notice the blow, too focused on Julia's hits that actually draw blood.

Having done nothing but scratch at the dragon's black scales, she looks towards Julia who's in the middle of landing a hit on the dragons stomach. It's a slow process. Julia's height is nothing compared to the dragon's, so she's able to run rings around it, dodging it's fire breath and making a few stabs as she goes. The dragon will eventually weaken with blood loss, it's just a question whether or not Julia's own stamina will last that long.

Julia shouts, wiping blood spatter from her chin. "The flask."

Annalise runs across the scorched earth towards the carriage, avoiding portions of the still burning grass. She scrambles into the carriage, grabs the flask, and downs its contents without any hesitation.

It's completely tasteless and for a moment Annalise doesn't think it's had any effect at all. She's halfway out the carriage, en route to rejoin the battle when it hits her. Try as she might to remain vertical, she can't help but fall to her knees. Her entire back feels like it's aflame. Parts of her feel like she's about to explode and she wishes it would just happen already, put her out of her misery.

She opens her mouth to scream, and as she howls her teeth individually suffer the worst toothache she's ever had. Her throat goes raw from shouting and when she shuts her mouth, she finds that her jaw doesn't fit together the way it used to. She runs her tongue over her front teeth, and discovers that her canines are longer than before. They're more like fangs now.

She's in too much pain to ponder what this means because her back feels like its erupting. It feels like there are a million tiny knifes trying to push their way out of her shoulder blades and just when she thinks she's going to pass out, something does force its way out.

A wing. Then another. A pair of soft, white, dove-like wings.

The pain goes in an instant and the wings start to feel like an extra set of arms. Using her real hands, she takes hold of her foil and heads straight for the dragon.

Julia can hardly believe what she's seeing, Annalise ascending to the heavens on a pair of wings, reaching as high as the dragon's head. She'd stop and gape at her, if she weren't mid battle.

Beautiful and deadly with a pair of wings and fangs, Annalise positions her foil. She flies even with the dragon's eyes, avoiding any attempt it makes to swat her away. She watches as the dragon blinks and when the lid rises again, she's ready and waiting. She's fast and frightening with her foil and drives it through the dragons pupil. "Julia, now."

The dragon thrashes and stumbles and droplets of blood the size of puddles fall from its eye. Julia gallops towards it, her sword raised. The dragon can't avoid her now and as it sways backwards and forwards, she times it perfectly so her sword goes right through its heart.

As if Annalise's new appendages had a consciousness of their own, the wings start to retract the moment the dragon falls. Woozy, Annalise can't even shout for help as she begins hurtling towards the ground like a rock.

The horses remaining at the carriage begin to pull and wrestle their reigns. They kick with their hind legs against the carriage again and again until they eventually come free. Having warmed to her considerably, the horse in front makes a mad dash to Annalise, outrunning Julia and her horse to catch her. Annalise lands safely on its back, barely aware of what's going on.

* * *

><p>The next time Annalise wakes she's in the palace, resting in her childhood bedroom. Julia explains to her that during the journey home, the feathers in her wings fell out one by one until there was nothing left. Annalise asks for a mirror to check her teeth and when she gets one she sees that her fangs are gone too.<p>

"Annalise," Julia begins, looking solemn in a way Annalise wouldn't have thought possible. "I was so damn scared, you know. I didn't know if you'd wake up or if you'd be the same person when you did. You've only been out a few hours, but Christ I was worried. And God, Annalise, you were so fucking cool back there, really. We'd be goners without you."

Annalise props herself up in her bed. She doesn't feel anything now, no pain at all, just tiredness. "Well what kind of monarch would I be if I didn't look after my people."

Julia laughs, but Annalise continues. "And goodness, Julia. What's going on with your family's history with Zelling dragons ?"

Julia's familiar grin reappears, lighting up her whole face. "It's an awful curse, it can only be broken by true love's kiss."

"Ridiculous." Annalise folds her arms, but her smile betrays her.

""Will you kiss me anyway ?"

Julia tastes like soot and iron, and God, Annalise doesn't care.


End file.
